"Only God who appointed me will remove me--not the MDC, not the British."

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe was named the seventh worst dictator in the world by no less of an authority on geopolitics than Sunday supplement Parade magazine. (Here's the entry on him: http://www.parade.com/articles/web_exclusives/2007/02-11-2007/dictators07.html.) So you know he must be bass-ass. Well, then what's with the God talk?

Well, he's a crazy dictator. In response to a planned runoff election that many--and by his reaction, Mugabe himself--believe would strip him of power, Mugabe instituted a campaign of violence against--read "killing members of"--the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC. Morgan Tsvangiri, head of the MDC, pulled out of the election, saying that the strong arm of Mugabe's government made the possibility of a fair election impossible. I'm guessing, too, that he's afraid for his life and the lives of his family.

The British government decried the violence and the effective cancellation of the runoff election.
"We do not recognize [Mugambe's] regime as legitimate," said British Prime Minister Gordon Browns. The British should know; in 1980, they handed Zimbabwe--then known as Southern Rhodesia--over to Mugabe.

Throughout history, crazy, power-hungry leaders have invoked a god's blessing as the reason for their ascent to power. If God wants Mugabe in power then anything he does to retain that power is justified--even killing and torturing those who oppose him. There is hope, though, and it comes from LA-based band Concrete Blonde: God is a bullet.

Have mercy on us, everyone.

"Even without a religion, we can become a good human being."
Oh, Dalai Lama, you had me at tashi dele.